HELP ! carbon filter issue

[nydiesel1]

Heyyy,

I bought a CAN LITE 600 from an ebay vendor, they sent me 2.. both of these have a bunch of black carbon falling out of the filter and I can hear it shaking around. I know regular can filters don't have this issue. Also I noticed there is a flange pre installed. what should I do is it normal for carbon to be "snowing" out of this thing?!? it doesn't seem right. I figure the carbon should be packed tight and not fall out. Also I can hear the particles in my ducting when my fan is attached. ANY insight will help. thanks in advance.

 

[Philosophelon]

That is 99.99% likely to be a knockoff. CAN doesn't usually have pre-installed flanges, but they do on the CAN LITEs, so that's kosher. Also, there should be the CAN logo painted all over the prefilter with blue paint. It usually looks kinda like they did it with spray paint and a stencil.

That being said, the carbon should be packed pretty rock-solid. They use a vibrating thing to make sure the carbon has fully settled. It definitely should not be shaking around, or falling out of the filter (aside from a little carbon dust here and there).

When dealing with genuine CAN products, I've never had that problem personally (I've used CAN for almost a decade now), I never had any customers with that problem when I worked at a growshop, and I've never heard of anyone with that problem on a forum.

Even if it is a genuine CAN filter container and/or prefilter, they may have just refilled one of their old ones and sold it as new. Fuck growers who do that shit to each other, you're just rippers without the balls to throw down. But a big fuck you to rippers too, while we're at it.

If you absolutely can't afford to get a new one, let me know what your setup is like and I'll see if I can help you salvage the situation at all safely. Sorry, bud - I feel for ya, that really sucks :-(

P.S. - I noticed that you only have 8 posts. If this is your first grow, that sucks even more. Everybody here is cool though - we'll take care of ya

*edit - doesn't ebay have some sort of fraud policy? I haven't been in awhile, buy I recall them having some kind of guarantee in case someone screws you over. Did you contact the seller?

 

[thatonedude]

if it is a refill you could open it up after you shake it down and fill it up the rest of the way. I used my washing machine to pack my home made scrubber.

 

[TheyCallMeJJay]

I used my washing machine to pack my home made scrubber.

lol. You did what? I would have to see that in action. Sounds like fun.

 

[thatonedude]

just filled the scrubber and sat it on top the machine when I did a load. the vibrations from that packed the carbon down nicely. sex on a washing machine on spin is pretty good too lol

 

[nydiesel1]

That is 99.99% likely to be a knockoff. CAN doesn't usually have pre-installed flanges, but they do on the CAN LITEs, so that's kosher. Also, there should be the CAN logo painted all over the prefilter with blue paint. It usually looks kinda like they did it with spray paint and a stencil.

That being said, the carbon should be packed pretty rock-solid. They use a vibrating thing to make sure the carbon has fully settled. It definitely should not be shaking around, or falling out of the filter (aside from a little carbon dust here and there).

When dealing with genuine CAN products, I've never had that problem personally (I've used CAN for almost a decade now), I never had any customers with that problem when I worked at a growshop, and I've never heard of anyone with that problem on a forum.

Even if it is a genuine CAN filter container and/or prefilter, they may have just refilled one of their old ones and sold it as new. Fuck growers who do that shit to each other, you're just rippers without the balls to throw down. But a big fuck you to rippers too, while we're at it.

If you absolutely can't afford to get a new one, let me know what your setup is like and I'll see if I can help you salvage the situation at all safely. Sorry, bud - I feel for ya, that really sucks :-(

P.S. - I noticed that you only have 8 posts. If this is your first grow, that sucks even more. Everybody here is cool though - we'll take care of ya

*edit - doesn't ebay have some sort of fraud policy? I haven't been in awhile, buy I recall them having some kind of guarantee in case someone screws you over. Did you contact the seller?

Thanks for the reply, I contacted the seller and they will be accepting the returns, so that's great. I just started a 4x4, I got blue og, sin mint cookie, diesel going now I have another setup with a can 66 and that works great. I wanted to have the lighter filter so I went with the 20 lbs version and this knockoff doesn't even feel like 20 lbs, much heavier. . SMH. But you can't BS with something like this, thanks again ! !

 

[TheyCallMeJJay]

just filled the scrubber and sat it on top the machine when I did a load. the vibrations from that packed the carbon down nicely. sex on a washing machine on spin is pretty good too lol

Ok lol. I was visioning that you put the scrubber inside the washer and used centrifugal force to pack it. Which would have been awesome.

 

[thatonedude]

Ok lol. I was visioning that you put the scrubber inside the washer and used centrifugal force to pack it. Which would have been awesome.

yeah that would be cool but I couldn't pull that off

 

[Philosophelon]

Thanks for the reply, I contacted the seller and they will be accepting the returns, so that's great.

Sweet! Glad to hear it, I was super bummed for ya. I guess I kinda jumped the gun on them fucking you over, lol.

Do you have a growshop near you? If so, you should always buy important and/or heavy stuff there. I'd encourage you to buy everything there - but I'm pretty biased, haha. Plus, if you establish relationships with the guys that work there, you'll get great customer service, usually good advice, if they don't have something in stock they can almost always order it for you (no shipping costs!), and some of them will even throw in a discount from time to time if you are a good customer. It's totally worth a little more money, plus it's fun to talk shop

 

[vostok]

It is an idea to buy the type that you can refill yourself, or at least look into a DIY refill on your expensive filter ....be warned tho it can be a messy job

1 drill out any rivets
2 slide it apart
3 pour in new activated charcoal
4 screw up with self tappet screw, write on the date U did it
5 avoid using in damp or high humid areas

 

[thatonedude]

or just build one yourself. its pretty easy, and cost effective. the hardest part is sourcing the carbon but its not that hard. can usually be found on ebay in 25 to 50 bags. hardware cloth is cheap so are pant hose and duct flanges/reducers. you can make them the size you want and are easy to refill. there is a link in the linkorama that has step by step instructions with pics

 

[Granger2]

What I found was that if I bought *quality* carbon, there was little to be saved by refilling. All kinds of carbon is available, most of it crap for that purpose. Smell is too important an issue to cut corners on. IMO.

I use Phresh filters, use to use Mountain Air. Both use the same carbon. The best. Phresh has aluminum/aluminium case which is easier to deal with. Every 6 or so months I take them out of the room and use a 6" centrifugal fan to blow back thru them for about an hour. Then wipe the case, put washed prefilter back on, and return to use. I retired a Mountain air after 3 years that was still working fine, after being used 24/7. I figure I get my money's worth, and have highest quality carbon, packed properly, with less work. Good luck. -granger

 

[Philosophelon]

I'm honestly not trying to be trollish - but I do respectfully disagree. If your growspace is sealed, it's no big deal because you can just run it recirculating. If you build a filter yourself, and your grow isn't recirculating, you need to be very careful.

Without the carbon packed to a higher density than you can do at home, you will have to pull less air through the filter in order to increase the contact time with the carbon because it is not packed at the optimal density. If there are any gaps at all, you (absolutely) will not be filtering all of the air, because it will take the path of least resistance. Remember, just because you can't smell it doesn't mean it doesn't smell. Also, DEFINITELY don't vent directly outside with a homemade filter unless it's out of a chimney or something. Odor control is a very, very important part of security. As a rule, I never vent any air outside except from my A/C heat exchanger room anyway, just to be safe.

If your grow is in your basement, even if it doesn't smell to you, without proper odor control a dog can smell it outside. If it is in a spare bedroom in an apartment or something on the first floor, same thing. On the second or higher floor, it's less likely someone will smell it outside, so depending on how anal you are about your security protocol, that might be fine. Bear in mind the proximity of any neighbors' windows, too.

Even if you are on the second floor, and not worried about dogs, you still need to worry about guests. They have way shittier noses, but ya still need to keep them in mind. Also, assume that someone you've never met before is gonna show up at your door (for whatever reason) at some point.

My advice would be to try to save money on something else. I'd urge you to think about it this way; a cheaper reflector can reduce your yield, a cheaper bulb can reduce your yield, a cheaper ballast can be less reliable and/or efficient - a cheaper carbon filter can send you to prison. Basically, it's one of the worst corners to cut.

I'd recommend a cheaper bulb (hortis are expensive, and a good place to save money on a budget), perhaps a magnetic ballast instead of electronic, and maybe see if anything is on sale at your local shop. Oh yeah - don't spend money on a bunch of supplements and shit. A nice simple regimen of quality nutes (and maybe some micro inoculants) can be pretty inexpensive and give the same (or even better, imo) results.

Better to lose a little yield than your freedom. Cut costs somewhere else.

Again, I don't mean this as an attack on anyone, I just happen to somewhat strongly disagree. And I've cut plenty of corners on security myself in my younger days - my first grow was in a studio apt., in a shitty particleboard cabinet from Home Depot that was noisy and obvious as hell to anyone in my apt. But it had a good filter ;-)

*edit* But, as I was oh-so-clever back then, I hid the cab behind a tapestry so no one could see it. It was both brilliant (in my head) and completely fucking useless (in reality)

 

[thatonedude]

I don't know my home made scrubber hasn't let me down. I got my carbon from a sewage plant distributor surplus sale if that makes a difference. and it lasted for 2 years and after being in storage for 5 years after that I am using it again and its working fine (I still have a lot left in the bag if needed). not worried about dogs so long as people cant smell it. I have a trustworthy non weed or tobacco user nose to inspect for me weekly or so

I figure if police dogs are sniffing around my house im already fucked

and there is only one of those dogs in my county and I know him on a let me rub your belly basis I guess im good (and no im not a cop I just got balls I guess)

 

[TheyCallMeJJay]

I figure if police dogs are sniffing around my house im already fucked

)

This

 

[Philosophelon]

OK, I'm about to temporarily highjack the thread, but it's sorta related. I apologize in advance for the pedantry to follow, but I'm on a security roll.

Thatonedude reminded me of another good security topic: If police dogs are sniffing around your house - don't give up! you're only almost fucked - you're not fully fucked until they kick your door in and shoot your dog.

With stringent security protocol (and the discipline to follow it at all times), you will have time to implement your emergency shut-down protocol as long as you notice surveillance early on. If you don't have a shut-down protocol, make one - better yet, make three. Also, you probably won't see the dogs, or see them install a smart meter, or see them do anything really, except physical surveillance. I've only been under surveillance once, and only by the DEA, so ymmv if it's some redneck sheriff or something.

They were surprisingly obvious about the physical surveillance though, which is how I noticed them in the first place. Once they even knocked over my webber grill (in my concrete driveway) while sneaking into my garage to steal some lawn clippings from a big plastic lawn bag, hahahahaha!! And yes, that is a violation of the 4th amendment - they really don't give a shit.

Another thing - check your electrical meter regularly, if it is suddenly a fancy new one, and everyone else in your neighborhood didn't get one too - shut down your shit!

The feds like to have an open and shut case cuz they hate to go to trial. If you catch them early enough, you can still squeak by them provided you don't make any mistakes. When you finally get a knock-and-talk (hopefully), you'll know that they have exhausted pretty much all their options. For me, two women showed up at my door at like 10 or 11 PM (no idea why that late), and said they were new to the neighborhood and did I want to hang out. Sorry, but I'm just not that lucky, ladies – nice try.

I've been on sabbatical from growing cannabis for over two years now. Since then I've been doing some legal in-house R&D for myself, and grad research at a university I won't mention. It's been great! I didn't realize how stressed I had been for the previous several years until I took a break. I highly recommend it (if you don't need the money). There is no way in hell that I am going to grow cannabis again until I move back to a med state when I'm finally done with my (and my team's) research. I simply do not have the balls to take on the DEA, it was FUCKING TERRIFYING.

Anyway, the moral of the story is that it is totally possible to squeak by them even if they are sending dogs, installing smart meters, following you everywhere you fucking go (they gave that up after like a 1.5 to 2 weeks, though), and there are more rats around you than there were in London during the goddamned Black Plague. You just gotta remain calm, and don't say uncle 'til there's a boot on your back.

A warrant is a puzzle - don't give them any pieces.

Remember, they need convincing evidence that you are growing cannabis to get a warrant, not just that you might be because you have a large utility bill, or FLIR hotspots in your house, or whatever. Without smell, they basically need to find something in your trash, see something through your window, or anything else that can link you to cannabis (or any crime, for that matter). A smart meter analysis alone wouldn't be enough for a warrant, but they like to (try to) use them in an attempt to wait until your crop is approaching the end of the flowering cycle to max out the weight that they can claim in court.

Another thing - if they notice you doing any crazy/violent/etc shit, they can claim that there are exigent circumstances, which dramatically lowers the requirements to obtain a search warrant, and can even allow them to come in without one, in severe cases.

Which brings me to my final bits of security advice: never push your luck, don't get greedy (or cocky or lazy), and most importantly, quit while you're ahead. It has served me VERY well, and even allowed me to warn my friends about the feds ahead of time – but most of them were greedy and cocky, and they wouldn't listen. To end on a positive note: I did actually save a few people though

 

[Philosophelon]

Some info that may help with the development of an emergency shutdown protocol.

If you are under surveillance DO NOT take anything that could get you arrested out of your house. Cops love to follow freaked out people who ripped their plants in a panic and see what dumpster they toss them in. They will then charge you with the all the weight of the entire (wet) plants, plus roots/rooting media, plus the freaking garbage bag you put them in.